I got the chance to spend a day at the main warm-up tournament to Wimbledon, but is it worth going?
Wimbledon is a huge event in the tennis calendar, with it being one of the four main Grand Slam events along with the Australian Open, French Open and US Open.
As part of the build-up to the tournament, players will take part in a few smaller competitions.
One of these is The Queen's Club Championships, which is held at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London.
While I was quite into tennis in secondary school, and have fond memories of watching Queen's Club tennis after school, I had never actually seen a match in-person.
So when I got the opportunity to spend a day at The Queen's Club Championships, I was curious to give it a go and see what it was like.
What's it like at the Queens Club Championship?
I got a chance to attend the Queen's Club Championship on Friday, June 19, which was the Quarter-Final day for the Men's Singles.
Play started at 11.30am on that day, so I made my way to the Palliser Road entrance after getting into Kensington on the tube.
Getting in was very quick after a few security measures and it was easy enough to find my seat at Centre Court.
I had a diagonal view of the court, which wasn't too far away from the action.
On the day I went, it was a very hot day, and there was absolutely no cover from the heat of the sun.
While I would still prefer this to rain, you definitely need to make sure you drink plenty of water and put on loads of suncream on days like this.
Due to being out there for hours on end, there's no escape, and even though I reapplied suncream on multiple occasions, my arms and nose didn't escape a bit of burning.
Moving on from the weather, the quality of the tennis was decent, with there being a mix of player abilities involved.
First up was world number six Alex de Minaur, who suffered a shock loss to world number 32 Brandon Nakashima in straight sets.
After a short break, there was the final set of the match between France's Ugo Humbert and Serbia's Hamad Medjedovic.
The match was tied at one set all before play had concluded the previous day, and Humbert went on to secure victory in the final set to progress.
What came next was the main event, where British wildcard Arthur Fery went up against the world number 21, Francisco Cerundolo.
People had filtered in and out of the venue while the previous matches were taking place, but this was by far the busiest the court seating was during the day.
It would have proven to be the biggest shock of the day, and Fery did come back from one set down to level.
This brought a rapturous applause from the audience, who had otherwise been quite restrained that day.
However, Cerundolo came through in the deciding set, with the Argentinian eventually going on to win the 2026 tournament.
The final game of the day on centre court saw Tommy Paul play Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, which was a more straightforward affair as the American won in straight sets.
What food can you get at the Queen's Club Championship?
Queen's Club has quite a few options for food, with there being plenty of bars and delicatessens where you could grab a sandwich and a cold drink.
Meanwhile, hot food included burgers, hot dogs, gourmet fish sandwiches, sushi, burritos and mezze boxes.
I ended up going for a chicken gyros from The Greek Kitchen, which seemed to be quite reasonably priced at £12.50.
It was certainly a messy eat, but you got a decent amount of chicken and salad packed into the flatbread, which made it feel like you were getting your money's worth.
Are there water stations at Queen's Club Championship?
There are several hydration stations located around The Queen's Club, and event organisers do encourage attendees to bring their own reusable water bottle.
On the day I went, the weather was ridiculously hot, so I made use of them on several occasions.
They have several pumps, so multiple people can use them at once, and the queues go down for them pretty quickly.
Is it worth going to the Queen's Club Championship?
Overall, I would say it is worth going to the Queen's Club Championship, as you'll likely see some quality games from a great view, and you'll have some decent options for food.
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With the flexibility of choosing exactly what games you can sit in for, you'll have plenty of time to see tennis or sample the food and drink without missing out on too much.
I was keen to watch as much tennis as possible, but it became apparent that most balanced out their activities a little more.
Depending on what day you go, it won't be a cheap experience, as some tickets would have been over £200 on the day I attended.
Have you ever been to the Queen's Club Championship, and what did you think? Let us know in the comments.
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